The Crew

The crew

Captain

Yvan, born in 1966, founder of companies — always giving more, charging in head down, relentless, bound body and soul to each of his ventures, forever caught up in them. Until the day when, at a crossroads, he took the chance offered by the sale of his last company and made the leap: “because unlike James Bond… you only live once.”

More than a dream — though we all dream of such a journey — this was for Yvan a new venture like the ones before it: a fresh start, a deep need for self-reliance, an urgent need to live, free. To head for open water in the literal sense, and cast off the lines.

The recipe for success in business has the same ingredients as in sport: a clear goal, teamwork and good preparation.

His years windsurfing at twenty were the whole of his seagoing experience when this circumnavigation began. He is now a deep-sea skipper at the helm of Milo One — weather forecaster, electrician, electronics man, mechanic, fisherman, and still a geek. By turns bear or teddy bear, the stories say — and it isn’t only a legend sailors tell each other by the fire. He now sails the oceans of the world, still a little astonished to be savouring this recovered freedom.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” (Apple, Think Different)

Corne de Brume

Sabrina, born in 1973, architect. I have a passion for life and for the adventures it holds out to us. In love with my captain, I would naturally have followed him to the end of the earth.

This adventure was for me a chance to get away, to travel, to discover other cultures — but also to take on a challenge, to prove something and go to the end of myself; the kind of challenge that pushes you into the unknown and, in the end, leaves you the larger for it. Travelling opens the mind, opens the heart, takes you out of your comfort zone and lets you go beyond your fears. To travel is to grow.

To leave, and share moments of closeness as a family; the happiness of taking one’s time; a chance to weave still stronger bonds with our son and give him another way of seeing life. What was only meant to be a parenthesis in our daily lives, far from the usual patterns, opened the door onto an extraordinary journey — one that has carried us further than we could have imagined.

Schoolteacher, fishmonger, dairywoman, baker, writer, hairdresser and first mate by turns, I look after the stores, and keep aboard the good humour our survival depends on.

“To stay is to exist; to travel is to live.” (Gustave Nadaud)

Little Pirate

Oscar, born in 2005, the little pirate who completes Milo One’s crew. Ship’s boy since the age of six months, he lives aboard — happy is he who, like Oscar, makes a fine voyage. Raised on love and… salt water, he is a true sailor who has known no life other than this nomadic one.

He often gives us the energy we need on the long passages, always delighted by these big departures. Could it have anything to do with there being no school while we are sailing?

Mornings are given over to correspondence school — not always easy, and apparently the teacher is far too strict. That said, after a brief week of immersion in the real world, at a school in the north of Mauritius in 2012, Oscar became aware of his privilege: he who had thought school was one long party with friends. In the end, school aboard isn’t so bad.

Afternoons are built around visits, walks, provisioning (Oscar loves supermarkets), water sports, kayaking, snorkelling… the beach, friends from other boats or from ashore, encounters more or less fleeting, often chance, always intense and magical.

Oscar loves big-game fishing, the dolphins that play at the bows, his enormous swimming pool at the back of the boat, jumping in, beach huts, wild barbecues, made-up tales of five-headed dragons, sleepovers on friends’ boats…

He is the joker in our voyage: with a child you are never a stranger. He is the link, the beginning of every encounter. He has that capacity to adapt which lets him be at ease anywhere, as long as we, his parents, are united beside him and happy in this way of life.

“Travel broadens the mind” — as the old saying goes.

Vénus

The cat, Vénus, born (roughly) in January 2012, in Malaysia. We took her aboard Milo One during our stop at Langkawi.

Vénus is a proper crew member, above all on night watches, when she keeps us company.

She likes fishing, and makes her inspection round every day in search — rather like an Easter egg hunt — of any flying fish or squid that fell victim to the night. Falls being what they are, she has become a very good swimmer, though not a bold one. She is Oscar’s mascot, Daddy’s cat, Mummy’s “big girl”, and the Venus… de Milo.

Whaooooo!